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TEN CENTS 



T H F 

VACCINATION 
SUPERSTITION 



Prophylaxis to be Realized 
Through the Attainment 
of Health, not by 



the Propagation of Disease 

Can Vaccination Produce 

Syphilis? - 



By J. W. HODGE, M.D. 

OF NIAGARA FALLS, N. Y. 



(Read before the Western New York Homoe- 

opatblc Medical Society In Buffalo 

April II, 2903) 







CONTENTS 



Introduction - - . . 
By Bernarr Macfadden. 

A City Freed from Smallpox - 

By Dr. Friedrich. 

The Vaccination Superstition - 

By J. W. Hodge, M.D. 



PAGE 
3 



II 



Comparison Between Smallpox, Cow- 
pox and Syphilis ... 50 

By Dr. M. R. Leverson. 



Dr. Rodermund's Experiment - 



56 



INTRODUCTION 



' Throughout the civilized world at 
the present time the vaccination delu- 
sion is almost everywhere in full sway. 
The Health Boards of the various 
cities demand it, and usually do every- 
thing that they can to enforce it. Rarely 
are they able to give even an ordinarily 
reasonable excuse for vaccination. They 
do not know why they vaccinate, further 
than their belief that vaccination will 
prevent smallpox. This belief is not 
based on any particular theories of their 
own that they may have deduced from 
personal experience, but has been secured 
from their medical colleges, or the phy- 
sicians who preceded them in authority 
on the Health Board. It has always 



THE VACCINATION SUPERSTITION 

been supposed that vaccination would 
prevent smallpox, and why should it be 
questioned? is their argument. 

This condition of affairs has induced 
me to publish in full, with some addi- 
tions, the address given by Dr. J. W. 
Hodge, at Buffalo, April ii, 1902. 

The facts herein presented can be 
vouched for in every instance. They 
are not a mere accumulation of wild 
theories, and anyone with reasoning 
powers who will carefully consider them 
without prejudice, can hardly fail to con- 
demn the vaccination delusion in most 
emphatic terms. 

There is no need of mentioning the 
baneful, and often hideous results, from 
this superstition. Lockjaw, blood poison- 
ing and bodily distortions, are only a 
few of its frightful results. 

Vaccination means the poisoning of 
/ the blood. It is the introduction into 
the circulation of the dried pus — poison 
that exudes from a running sore. Those 

4 



The vaccination supers flTION, 

vitally strong are able to resist its influ- 
ence, and, apparently recover, without 
noticeable harm, but many suffer se- 
verely, and pneumonia, diphtheria and 
scarlet fever are only a few of ^ the 
diseases that are often produced as an 
after result of the lessened vital strength 
and polluted blood that vaccination fre- 
quently causes. 

Though vaccination may, while the 
inflammation of the sore remains, tend, 
to lessen the danger of smallpox, it 
certainly does lessen the general func- 
tional vigor, and every disease accom- 
panied by inflammation, especially of the 
throat and lungs, is extremely liable to 
result. 

Smallpox is only possible to those 
who clothe heavily, bathe infrequently, 
eat very heartily and exercise rarely. It 
is the accumulation of impurities in the 
blood, and the inability of the inactive 
pores of the skin to assist in their elim- 
ination that gives this disease its victims. 

5 



THE VACCINATION SUPERSTITION 

We are a virulent enemy of vaccin- 
ation : 

(i) Because it does not prevent 
smallpox ; 

(2) Because it lessens one's vital 
strength and power to resist internal 
inflammatory diseases ; 

(3) Because smallpox itself, when 
treated properly, is easily and quickly 
curable. 

That' those who are interested in 
crushing this superstition may have an 
opportunity to distribute books of value 
along this line, in addition to this pam. 
phlet we have published a ten-cent edi- 
tion of Dr. Felix Oswald's book, entitled 
"Vaccination a Crime;" former price of 
this book was $1.00. 




A CITY FREED FROM 
SMALLPOX 



To Dr. Friedricli, in charge of the 
Health Board of Cleveland, Ohio, is due 
the credit of furnishing the civilized 
world with an example of a large city 
being absolutely free from smallpox, and 
it would be well to note that one of 
the first means that he adopted in pro- 
ducing this result was to abolish vacci- 
nation absolutely. 

The methods adopted by Dr. Fried- 
rich in accomplishing these results are 
of such vast importance that I here- 
with give to my readers in full his 
recent report giving in detail the meth- 
ods adopted by him in abolishing this 
disease. 

" It aflfords me great pleasure to state 
that the house-to-house disinfection freed 
Cleveland from smallpox. Since August 23, 

7 



THE VACCINATION SUPERSTITION 

1901, to this very hour of writing, about 
April I, 1902, not a single case has ori- 
ginated in this city, but seven cases were 
imported. The disease raged here unin- 
terruptedly since 1898. We relied upon 
vaccination and quarantine as the most 
effective weapons to combat it, but in 
spite of all our efforts it doubled itself 
every year and was in a fair way of 
repeating the record of last year, as in 
1900 we had 993 cases, and from January 
I St to July 21,1901, the number amounted 
to 1,223 On this date I was called to 
take charge of the health office with 
seventeen cases on hand. I had been 
in the city's employ ever since 1899 
and it had fallen to my lot to investigate 
and diagnose most of the cases of small- 
pox that occurred in Cleveland. During 
that time I observed that, after disinfec- 
tion with formaldehyde of a house in 
which we had found smallpox, never 
another case could be traced to this house. 
On the other hand^ vaccination had given us 

8 



THE VACCINATION SUPERSTITION 

many untoward symptoms. Frequently it 
did not 'take- at all. One-fourth of all cases 
developed sepsis instead of vaccini, SOME 
ARMS SWELLED CLEAR DOWN TO 
THE WRIST JOINT, WITH PIECES 
OF FLESH AS BIG AS A SILVER 
DOLLAR AND TWICE AS THICK 
DROPPING RIGHT OUT, LEAVING 
AN UGLY, SUPPURATING WOUND, 
WHICH TO HEAL TOOK IN MANY 
CASES OVER THREE MONTHS. Fi^ 
nally, four cases of tetanus developed after 
vaccination, so that the people became alarmed, 
and rightly so, 

"I laid these facts before Mayor 
Johnson and proposed to stop vaccination 
entirely, and instead of it disinfect thor- 
oughly with formaldehyde every section 
of the city where smallpox had made its 
appearance; also to give the city a gen- 
eral cleaning up. The Mayor not only 
consented to my plan, but also gave me 
all aid needed. I formed two squads of 
disinfectors, preferring medical students 

9 



THE VACCINATION SUPERSTITION 

for the work. Each squad consisted of 
twenty men, with a regular sanitary pat- 
rolman at their head, and each man was 
provided with a formaldehyde generator. 
Thus equipped they started out to disin- 
fect every section of the city where the 
disease had shown its head, and every 
house in this section, no matter if small- 
pox had been within or not, and every 
room, nook and corner of the house, 

special attention being paid to winter 
clothes that had been stored away, pre- 
sumably laden with germs. It took over 
three months to do the work, but the 
result was most gratifying. After July 
23d seven more cases developed, the last 
one August 23d. 

As a result of it, Cleveland is now 
free from smallpox, and from the worst 
infected city it has now become the 
cleanest. 



10 



THE VACCINATION 
SUPERSTITION 



FREEDOM FROM SMALLPOX TO BE REALIZED THROUGH 

THE ATTAINMENT OF HEALTH, NOT THE 

PROPAGATION OF DISEASE. 



In view of the fact that a bold 
attempt has recently been made by a 
representative of the self-styled "regular*' 
profession to place upon our statute 
books a compulsory vaccination measure, 
the provisions of which mark a height 
of brazen effrontery which medical des- 
potism has never before reached in the 
Empire State; and, inasmuch as the 
public mind is largely occupied with 
the questions of smallpox and vaccina- 
tion at the present, the discussion of 
some phases of these subjects seems 
timely and appropriate. 

I desire to treat this important topic, 
not in a spirit of contentiousness, but 
with a sincere desire to get at the truth 
even though in so doing some unwel- 
come facts are disclosed and some cher- 



II 



THE VACCINATION SUPERSTITION 

ished ideals are dispelled. My aim is 
to consider facts as I find them and 
not as I wish they were. 

The advocates of vaccination unhesi- 
tatingly assert that the vaccine disease 
protects its subjects from smallpox, but 
the facts, so far as we know them, do 
not warrant this assertion. Indeed, the 
theory which assumes to conserve health 
by propagating disease has always had 
a formidable array of facts to oppose 
it. 

From the days of Jenner to the 
present time, cases of smallpox have 
appeared among those who were sup- 
posed to be protected by vaccination, 
and these in no small numbers. When 
Jenner began the practice of vaccination 
in 1798, he rashly assumed that one 
"successful*' vaccination was a preven- 
tive of smallpox for an entire lifetime. 
This, it is readily seen, was a mere 
hypothesis on his part, because in the 
very nature of the case it was not pos- 

12 



THE VACCINATION SUPERSTITION 

sible to determine at that time that the 
artificial production of one disease would 
surely prevent, forever afterward, in that 
subject, the occurrence of another disease 
(smallpox). 

Assumption is not law, and Jenner 
lived to witness the folly of his error. 

I here present a few examples, out 
of many thousands which are at hand, 
to warrant the affirmation that vaccina- 
tion does not protect its subjects from 
smallpox. 

The London Morning Advertiser of 
Nov. 24, 1870, reports: 

"Smallpox is making still greater 
havoc in the ranks of the Prussian 
army, which is said to have thirty thou- 
sand smallpox patients in its hospitals." 
These were all vaccinated and re-vaccin- 
ated. 

Dr. G. F. Kolb, of the Royal Statis- 
tical Commission of Bavaria, officially 
states: "In the Kingdom of Bavaria, 
where no one for many years, except 

13 



THE VACCINATION SUPERSTITION 

the newly born, escaped vaccination, 
there were in the epidemic of 1871 no 
less than 30,742 cases of smallpox, of 
whom 29,429 had been vaccinated, as is 
shown by the documents of the State 
Department." 

The Lancet (London) of July 15, 1871, 
editorially states: 

"The deaths from smallpox have 
assumed the proportions of a plague. 
Over 10,000 lives have been sacrificed 
during the past year in England and 
Wales. In London, 5,641 deaths have 
occurred since Christmas. Of 9,392 pa- 
tients in the London smallpox hospitals, 
no less than 6,854 had been vaccinated^ 
i. e., nearly 73 per cent. Taking the 
mortality at \^\ per cent, of those at- 
tacked, and the deaths this year in the 
whole country at 10,000, it will follow 
that more than 122,000 vaccinated per- 
sons have suflfered from smallpox. This 
is an alarming state of things. Can we 
greatly wonder that the opponents of 

14 



THE VACCINATION SUPERSTITION 

vaccination should point to such sta- 
tistics as an evidence of the failure of 
the systenai? It is necessary to speak 
plainly on this important matter." 

Statistics of similar import might be 
quoted by the page, chapter and vol- 
ume, but time and space forbid. One 
such fact is as good as a thousand, be- 
cause it effectually destroys the foundation 
of the theory of preventive vaccination. 

In the annual report of the Health 
Department of the City of New York, 
1870-71, it is stated: 

"This extraordinary prevalence of 
smallpox over various parts of the globe, 
especially in countries where vaccination 
has long been efficiently practiced; its 
occurrence in its most fatal form in per- 
sons who gave evidence of having been 
well vaccinated, and the remarkable sus- 
ceptibility of people of all ages to re- 
vaccination, are new facts in the history 
of this pestilence, which must lead to 
reinvestigation of the whole subject of 

IS 



THE VACCINATION SUPERSTITION 

vaccination and of its claim as a pro- 
tecting agent/' 

A. M. Ross, M. D., A. M., an eminent 
old school physician of Toronto, in writ- 
ing about the Montreal smallpox epi- 
demic of 1885, said: 

"Whoever closely watched the course 
of the epidemic in Montreal must con- 
clude that vaccination is utterly useless 
as a protection from smallpox. Much 
of what transpired in our smallpox hos- 
pitals was suppressed, especially what- 
ever was likely to operate against the 
progress of vaccination, which proves a 
golden harvest to the vaccinators. But 
notwithstanding the conspiracy of silence, 
a few official reports came out, pregnant 
with proof against vaccination, and de- 
monstrating beyond question that a 
large proportion of the patients admit- 
ted to our smallpox hospitals had been 
vaccinated, and that many of them died, 
some with two and others with three 
vaccine marks upon their bodies." 

16 



THE VACCINATION SUPERSTITION 

The New York Medical Journal^ edited 
by Frank P. Foster, M. D., in its issue of 
July 22, 1899, contains an article, entitled 
"Vaccination in Italy," written by Charles 
Ruata, M. D., Professor of Hygiene and 
of Materia Medica in the University of 
Perugia, Italy, in which he demonstrates 
by the presentation of the most trust- 
worthy official statistics, that preventive 
vaccination in that country has been a 
complete and certain failure. 

Prof. Ruata prefaces his article with 
the following affirmation: 

"Italy is one of the best vaccinated 
countries in the world, if not the best 
of all, and we can prove that mathe- 
matically." He says: "Our young men, 
with few exceptions, at the age of 
twenty years must enter the army, 
where a regulation prescribes compulsory 
vaccination.** After having quoted the 
official statistics of the Italian Govern- 
ment as proof of his assertion, he sayS: 
"For twenty years before 1885, our n^, 

• 

»7 



THE VACCINATION SUPERSTITION 

tion was vaccinated in the proportion 
of 98.5 per cent. Notwithstanding, the 
epidemics of smallpox that we have had 
have been something so frightful that 
nothing before the invention of vaccina- 
tion could equal them.*' 

In Italy, having a population of 30,- 
000,000,98.5 percent, of whom were officially 
declared vaccinated, Dr. Ruata goes onto say : 

"During the year 1887, we had 16,- 
249 deaths from smallpox; in 1888, 18,- 
iio, and in 1889, 13,413." In referring 
to the Italian army, in which "vaccina- 
tion had been performed twice a year 
in the most satisfactory manner for 
many years past," Dr. Ruata says: "Now 
we see that soldiers not protected be- 
cause vaccinations did not 'take* were 
less attacked by smallpox than those 
'duly protected' by the good results of 
their re-vaccination ; and that the death- 
rate in those vaccinated with good results 
was greater than among those in whom 
vaccination did not take." 

|8 



THE VACCINATION SUPERSTITION 

In regard to the vaccine material 
used, Dr. Ruata says: 

"I have limited my analysis to the 
last six years, during which time the 
only lymph used in all our army has 
been animal lymph, exclusively, furnished 
by the Government Institute for the 
production of animal lymph." After 
having cited the government statistics, 
which sustain his conclusion, Prof. Ruata 
remarks: "The *duly protected' soldiers 
were attacked by smallpox in a propor- 
tion double that among the 'unprotected' 
soldiers. 

"As you see, these are official state- 
ments, extremely trustworthy because 
they were made in a country where 
and at a time when, no one thought 
that it was possible to raise a doubt 
against the dogma of vaccination. In 
our country," he continues, "we have no 
league against vaccination, and every 
father thinks that vaccination is one of 
his first duties. For these reasons no 

J9 



THE VACCINATION SUPERSTITION 

bias could exist against vaccination in 
making these statistics." 

The figures of these statistical re- 
cords presented in the New York Med- 
ical Journal, from the pen of an eminent 
professor in an Italian University, stand 
as unimpeachable witnesses to the fact 
that preventive vaccination has been a 
complete failure in Italy, which we are 
assured is one of the most thoroughly 
vaccinated countries on the globe. 

I now call another witness, Prof. 
Alfred Russel Wallace, LL.D., F.R.S., 
the co-discoverer with Darwin of the 
theory of evolution, an expert statistician 
and one of the ablest scientific men of 
England. In his latest great scientific 
work, entitled "The Wonderful Century," 
Professor Wallace has devoted a chapter 
to the consideration of the most trust- 
worthy statistics, on a large scale, as re- 
lating to. smallpox and vaccination. He 
tells us that in April, of the year 1889, 
Queen Victoria appointed a commission 

ao 



THE VACCINATION SUPERSTITION 

of eight of the most distinguished med- 
ical men of England and quite a num- 
ber of eminent men in other professions, 
to investigate the question of the effect 
of vaccination. This commission, we are 
told, spent more than seven years in its 
investigation, held 136 meetings, ex- 
amined about 200 vritnesses, and investi- 
gated six epidemics which had occurred 
in recent years at Gloucester, Sheffield, 
Warrington, Dewsbury, Leicester and 
London. 

It is upon the evidence presented in 
the majority report of this commission 
that Prof. Wallace bases his statements 
and conclusions, some of which I here- 
with present. He has critically exam- 
ined the early tests employed by the 
advocates of vaccination to prove the 
alleged protective influence of the prac- 
tice, and has pointed out the fallacy 
and complete inefficiency of these tests. 
He has brought together an array of 
remarkable test cases which illustrate 

21 



THE VACCINATION SUPERSTITION 

the utter worthlessness of vaccination. 
Of these crucial tests I shall be able 
to present but a few: 

"The first is that of Leicester, 
which for the past twenty years has 
rejected vaccination till it has now al- 
most vanished, and smallpox is almost 
unknown. The second is that of the 
army and navy in which, for a quarter 
of a century, every recruit had been 
re-vaccinated, unless he had been re- 
cently vaccinated or had smallpox. In 
the first we have an almost unvaccinated 
population of nearly 200,000, which, on 
the theory of the vaccinators, should 
have suffered exceptionally from small- 
pox; in the other we have a picked 
body of nearly 220,000 men who, on the 
evidence of the medical authorities, are 
as w'ell protected as they know how to 
make them, and among whom, therefore, 
smallpox should be almost or quite 
absent, and smallpox deaths quite un- 
known. Let us see, then, what has 

22 



THE VACCINATION SUPERSTITION 

happened in these two cases. In both 
it has been clearly proven that small- 
pox increased with the increase of vac- 
cination, and decreased under sanita- 
tion, cleanliness and hygienic living." 

After having set forth page upon page 
of these test cases, Prof. Wallace observes : 

"It is thus completely demonstrated 
that all the statements by which the 
public has been gulled for so many 
years, as to the almost complete im- 
munity of the re-vaccinated Army and 
Navy, are absolutely false. It is all 
what Americans call 'bluff.' There is 
no immunity. They have no protection. 
When exposed to infection they do 
suffer just as much as other popula- 
tions, or even more. In the whole of 
the nineteen years, 1878-96, inclusive, 
unvaccinated Leicester had so few small- 
pox deaths that the Registrar-General 
represented the average by the decimal 
o.oi per thousand population, equal to 
ten per million, while for the twelve 

23 



The vaccination superstition 

years 1878-89 there was less than one 
death per annum. Here we have real 
immunity y real protection; and it is ob- 
tained by attending to sanitation and 
isolation, coupled with the almost total 
neglect of vaccination. Neither army nor 
navy can show any such results as this." 

"Now," says Prof. Wallace, "if there 
exists such a thing as a crucial test, 
this of the army and navy as compared 
with Leicester, affords such a test. The 
populations concerned are hundreds of 
thousands; the time extends over a 
generation; the statistical facts are clear 
and indisputable; while the case of the 
army and navy has been falsely alleged 
again and again to afford indisputable 
proof of the value of vaccination when 
performed on adults." 

Prof. Wallace produces official sta- 
tistics which verify his affirmation that, 
'The town of Leicester is, and has 
been for the past twenty years, the 
least vaccinated town in the kingdom. 

24 



THE VACCINATION 'SUPERSTITION 

Its average population from 1873 to 1894 
was about two-tfiirds of that of the 
army during the same period. Yet 
smallpox deaths in the army and navy 
were thirty-seven per million, those of 
Leicester under fifteen per million." 

Prof. Wallace justly declares: "It 
is not possible to have a more complete 
and crucial test than this is, and it 
absolutely demonstrates the utter use- 
lessness, or worse than uselessness, of 
re-vaccination." 

" Before leaving Leicester, " says 
Prof. Wallace, "it will be instructive to 
compare it with some other towns of 
which statistics are available. And first, 
as to the great epidemic of 1871-72 in 
Leicester and in Birmingham. Both 
towns were then well vaccinated, and 
both suffered severely by the epidemic. 
Thus : • 

Per 10,000 population Leicester Birmingham 

Smallpox cases 327 213 

Smallpox deaths 35 35 

25 



The vaccination superstition 

"But since then Leicester has re- 
jected vaccination to' such an extent 
that in 1894 it had only seven vaccina- 
tions to 10,000 population, while Bir- 
mingham had 240, or more than thirty 
times as many, and the proportion of 
its inhabitants who have been vaccinated 
is probably less than one-half of that 
of Birmingham. The Commissioners 
themselves state that the disease (small- 
pox) was brought into the town of 
Leicester on twelve separate occasions 
during the recent epidemic, yet the 
following is the result: 

1891-94. 

Per 10,000 population Leicester Birmingham 

Smallpox cases 19 63 

Smallpox deaths i i-io 5 

"Here we see that Leicester had 
less than one-third the cases of smallpox 
and less than one-fourth the deaths in 
proportion to population than well vac- 
cinated Birmingham; so that both the 
alleged protection from attacks of the 

26 



THE VACCINATION SUPERSTITION 

disease and mitigation of its severity, 
when it does attack, are shown not 
only to be absolutely untrue, but to 
apply, in this case, to the absence of 
vaccination." 

The last quotation from "The Won- 
derful Century" which I shall here pre- 
sent is the following : 

"But we have yet another example 
of an extremely well-vaccinated town in 
this epidemic — Warrington, an official 
report on which has been issued. It is 
stated that 99.2 per cent, of the popula- 
tion had been vaccinated, yet comparison 
with unvaccinated Leicester stands as 
follows : 

Epidemic of 1892-93. 

Per 10,000 population Leicester Warrington 

Smallpox cases 19 3 123.3 

Smallpox deaths 1.4 1 1.4 

"Here, then, we see that in the 
thoroughly vaccinated town the cases 
are more than six times, and the deaths 
more than eight times, that of the 

27 



thb vaccination superstition 

almost unvaccinated town, again provinj 
that the most efficient vaccination doe=r 
not diminish the number of attacks, an^c: 
does not mitigate the severity of th ^^ 
disease, but that both these results fol- 
low from sanitation and isolation." 

The history of smallpox in Leicester*, 
England, has, as pointed out by Pro/. 
Wallace, furnished conclusive testimony 
to the world that smallpox can be con- 
fined within very narrow limits without 
any assistance . (?) from the vaccine 
operation. 

In 1872, when Leicester was a well- 
vaccinated city, it was visited by a small- 
pox epidemic and suffered a heavy 
mortality. The doctors had so overdone 
the business of coercive vaccination, and 
public prosecution, that the people arose 
en masse in open revolt against the prop- 
agation of the vaccinator's poison. This 
emphatic protest had the effect of check- 
ing vaccination and of diminishing the 
percentage of vaccinations to the number 

28 



^^£ VACCINATION SUPERSTITION 

^^ "births. From page 209 of "The Won- 
derfiii Century" I quote the following: 
**But immediately after the great 
^^oester epidemic of 1872, which was 
^^^Se than in London, the people began 
X'eject vaccination, at first slowly, then 
^^^e rapidly, till for the last eight 
y^^Ts (1890-98) less than five per cent. 
^ the births have been vaccinated. 
*^^ting the whole of the last twenty-four 
y^ars smallpox deaths have been very 
^^w, and during twelve consecutive years, 
187^89, there was a total ot only eleven 
smallpox deaths in this populous town." 
Thus, we see the history of Leicester 
presents one of the best object lessons 
of the past thirty years; for since its 
smallpox epidemic of 1872 its citizens 
not only arose in open revolt and rid 
themselves of the incubus of vaccination, 
but also instituted as thorough a system 
of sanitation as their crowded population 
of nearly 200,000 would admit of. Lei- 
cester, therefore, under the guidance of 

29 



THE VACCINATION SUPERSTITION 

a creed, the main articles of which are 
founded on the teachings of sanitary 
science and obedience to the laws of 
hygiene, stands out clear and distinct 
above all other cities in England, both 
as a rebuke to the vaccine practice, and 
as a testimony that salvation from the 
contagion of smallpox lies in the direc 
tion of sanitary regulations and hygienic 
habits of life. In defence of the Lei- 
cester system, which is simply a system 
of thorough sanitation, the report of its 
medical officer for 1893 tells a story 
which should be emphatically and re- 
peatedly impressed upon the mind of 
every health-board official throughout the 
civilized world. 

Addressing his townsmen, the Lei- 
cester health officer said: "You are en- 
titled to great credit, more especially in 
the case of smallpox, which, by the 
methods you have adopted, has been 
prevented from running riot throughout 
the town, thereby upsetting all the 

30 



THE VACCINATION SUPERSTITION 

prophecies which have again and again 
been made. I need only mention such 
towns as Birmingham, Warrington, Brad- 
ford, Walsall, Oldham, and the way they 
have suffered during the past year from 
the ravages of smallpox, to give you an 
idea of the results you in Leicester have 
achieved — results of which I, as your medi- 
cal officer of health,am justly,! think, proud." 
The foregoing are a few of the 
hundreds of demonstrations that can be 
cited of the utter worthlessness of vacci- 
nation as a preventive of smallpox. If 
protection is good for anything, it should 
be effective during the prevalence of 
an epidemic; but, as we have seen, 
that is just where the unvaccinated en- 
joy the greater immunity from the vari- 
olous infection. Can any one explain 
why it is, that the vaccine practice con- 
tinues to be perpetuated, and the con- 
tagion of the cowpox disorder to be 
propagated by the medical profession in 
the face of such evidence as this? 

3? 



I 

J 



THE VACCINATION SUPERSTITION 

The statement of such demonstra- 
tions as these puts the advocates of vac- 
cination in a very awkward predicament, 
to say the least. A knowledge of such 
clean-cut facts should be sufiBlcient to 
destroy in unprejudiced minds all belief 
in the efficacy of so-called preventive 
vaccination. 

The ancient theory which ignores 
the laws of hygiene and sanitation by 
teaching the absurd doctrine that the 
propagation of the contagion of disease 
by ingrafting it into the bodies of 
healthy people can be advantageous to 
the well-being of a community, should 
find no favor with the sanitary rationalist 
of the twentieth century and, in my 
humble opinion, deserves the open con- 
demnation of every scientific physician. 

Belief in this curious dogma has 
tended to foster a disregard for cleanli- 
ness. By leading people to overlook the 
real cause and to neglect the true pre- 
VQUtivQ of smallpox, it has done much 

32 



THE VACCINATION SUPERSTITION 

to obstruct the progress of truth and to 
retard the evolution of hygiene and 
sanitary science. 

Instead of having been instructed by ^ 
their family physician to observe the 
laws of health and to avoid the causes 
of disease, people have on the contrary 
been taught, for a century, to rely upon 
a fetich for immunity from a filth- 
disease. 

The only measure which has been 
found competent to cope with smallpox 
and other zymotic diseases is cleanliness. 
As people learn to keep their dwelling 
apartments clean and well ventilated, 
their streets and alleys free from the 
accumulation of filth, their water supply 
pure, their food free from injurious 
adulteration, their bodies free from the 
accumulation of eflfete tissue, by taking 
plenty of exercise in the open air, they 
rise superior to the thraldom of zymotic 
disorders. 

There is no exception to this rule. / 

33 ^ 



THE VACCINATION SUPERSTITION 

Whom do these diseases attack? The 
untidy and unclean. What neighbor- 
hoods do they visit ? The filthiest. 
What cities do they select? Those in 
which sanitary conditions are most 
neglected. Note the smallpox epidemic 
of Montreal of 1885, Mn which 3,400 
people died of the disease. Who were 
the victims? The very lowest class of 
society, children who were filthy, neglect- 
ed and ill-fed, who were living in 
houses that were overcrowded, destitute 
of proper ventilation, and in courts and 
alleys reeking with filth and where 
sanitation is a term unknown. 

So-called " successful " vaccination is 
nothing less than the implanting into 
the healthy organism the virulent pro- 
ducts of diseased animal tissue, with the 
eflEect of inducing actual disease. The 
performance of such an operation, in 
the very nature of the case, violates 
every principle of modern aseptic sur- 
gery, the legitimate aim of which is to 

34 



THE VACCINATION SUPERSTITION 

retnove from the organism the products 
of disease and never to introdtue them. 
The chief aim of the modern surgeon 
is to make and treat wounds aseptically. 
The careful operator employs every 
means at his command to clear the 
field of operation of all bacteria, and 
he uses every available resource of the 
marvelously minute and intricate tech- 
nique of asepsis to prevent the entrance, 
through wounded tissue, into the organ- 
ism of any germ or morbific agent 
before, during, and after an operation. 
He fears sepsis as he fears death; and 
yet, under the blighting and blinding 
influence of an ancient and venerated 
superstition, he will intentionally inocu- 
late into the circulation of a healthy 
human being the virulent animal poison, 
vaccine virus, the infective products of 
diseased animal tissues, under strictly 
aseptic conditions. 

Think of the unparalleled absurdity 
of deliberately infecting the organism 

35 



THE VACCINATION SUPERSTITION 

of a healthy child, in this era of sani- 
tary science and aseptic surgery, with 
the poisonous matter obtained from a 
sore on a diseased calf, under the pre- 
tense of protecting the victim of the 
ingrafted disease against the contagion 
of another disease! Can inconsistency 
, go farther than this? Inoculating an 
indeterminate lot of microbes into a 
healthy organism under aseptic precau- 
tions! ' Ladies and gentlemen of this 
society, just think of it! 

In considering the subject of pre- 
ventive vaccination the question arises: 
What is vaccinia? And what is it th^t 
the vaccinator implants into the healthy 
human organism? Into this part of the 
subject time forbids me to enter, except 
to point out a few brief quotations from 
high authorities on this subject. 

From the American Text Book of 
Diseases of Children, article Vaccination, 
by T. S. Westcott, M. D., (p. 192) I 
quote the following: "The exact nature 

36 



THE VACCINATION SUPERSTITION 



of vaccinal disease is a question which 
has been the subject of repeated theor- 
izing and experimentation since the time 
of Jenner, and even at the present day 
no concensus of opinion has been 
reached." Many pro-vaccinal authorities 
aver the belief that vaccinia is small- 
pox modified or attenuated by passing 
through the system of a cow. This 
theory, however, rests on very inconclu- 
sive evidence and must soon be relin- 
quished. 

Dr. Chauven, in his notable address 
before the French Academy of Medicine, 
October, 1891, after detailing his elabor- 
ate experiments, which had continued for 
years, concludes: 

(i) "Vaccine virus never gives small- 
pox to man; 

(2) "Variolic virus never gives vac- 
cinia to the cow; 

(3) "Vaccinia is not even attenuated 
smallpox." 

Vaccinia is, in all probability, a 

37 



THE VACCINATION SUPERSTITION 

the theory of the great antiquity of man 
on the earth), which table formed the 
basis of *his thesis read before the 
American Association of Physicians and 
Surgeons at Indianapolis, in January, 
1896, and which has been now for more 
than six years unquestioned by the pro- 
fession. This table, a copy of which I 
now present you, is a condensed state- 
ment in parallel columns of the primary 
and secondary symptoms of smallpox, 
cowpox and syphilis, from the separate 
descriptions of the most renowned 
authorities upon these several diseases.- 
It shows an almost complete likeness 
between the two latter and a total un- 
likeness of each to smallpox. Thus we 
come face to face with the gravest and, 
at the same time, the most disgusting 
aspect of the whole vaccination problem. 
Here we have some of the highest 
authorities who have produced the clear- 
est evidence showing that vaccinia is 
modified syphilis. The chronic and pro- 

40 



THE VACCINATION SUPERSTITION 

lean manifestations which at times fol- 
low vaccination must have impressed us 
all with their close analogy to syphilitic 
lesions. 

Prof. Alfred Russell Wallace has 
proven by the testimony submitted in 
the Majority Report of the Royal Com- 
mission of Inquiry on Vaccination, that 
the cowpox practice instead of protect- 
ing its subjects from the contagion of 
smallpox, actually rendered them more 
susceptible to it. This conclusion, based 
upon facts, is in harmony with the 
physician's daily observations and ex- 
periences. Health is the ideal state to 
be sought for and attained, not disease. 
Disease should always be avoided. 
Every pathogenic disturbance in the in- 
fected organism wastes and lowers the 
vital powers, and thus diminishes its 
natural resisting capacity. 

This fact is so well known and so 
universally conceded that it seems 
superfluous to cite authorities. Neverthe- 

41 



THE VACCINATION SUPERSTITION 

less, at the risk of being considered 
redundant, I shall mention a couple. 
The American Text Book of Surgery, 
one of the latest standard works (p. 59,) 
says: 

"The healthy body is intolerant of 
bacteria and will resist the invasion of 
a mass of organism which an inflamed 
or diseased part may be unable to 
withstand." 

Another of the latest works, The 
International Text Book of Surgery 
(Vol. I. p. 263), is authority for the fol- 
lowing statement: 

"Persons weakened by disease or 
worn out by excessive labor yield more 
readily to infection than healthy indi- 
viduals." 

If this is true, it explains why, in 
variolous epidemics, smallpox always 
attacks the vaccinated first, and why 
this disease continues to infest the 
civilized world while its allied "filth- 
diseases" have disappeared before the 

42 



THE VACCINATION SUPERSTITION 

advance of civilization, through the good 
offices of sanitation, hygiene and isola- 
tion of the sick. 

In conclusion, I venture to think 
that I am warranted in maintaining that 
an impartial and comprehensive study 
of vital statistics, gleaned from every 
reliable source, proves that the exten- 
sion of the practice of vaccination can- 
not be shown to have any logical rela- 
tion to the diminution of cases of 
smallpox. 

After a careful consideration of the 
history of vaccination and smallpox, and 
after an experience derived from having 
vaccinated more than 3,000 subjects, I 
am firmly convinced that Edward Jen- 
ner saddled a legacy of disease and 
death upon the human race, and inci- 
dentally made $150,000 by the trans- 
action ; 

That the practice of vaccination has 
been the means of disseminating some 
of the most fatal and loathsome dis- 

43 



THE VACCINATION^ SUPERSTITK^'^ 

eases, such as leprosy, cancer, syphi^^^' 
tetanus and tuberculosis; 

That vaccination is not only usete^* 
but positively injurious, 

That instead of protecting its stt'^ 
jects .from the contagion of smallpox, ^ 
actually renders them more susceptib^ 
to it by depressing the vital powei — " 
and diminishing natural resistance; 

That vaccination was introduced at^ 
a time when smallpox was a diminish-^ 
ing factor, and, by checking smallpox 
inoculation, withdrew a fertile source of 
variolous propagation; 

That the discontinuance of variolous 
inoculation, therefore, rather than the 
practice of vaccination, accounted for 
the diminished prevalence of smallpox 
during the first three decades of the 
last century; 

That previous to the introduction 
of vaccination, variolous inoculation was 
unanimously believed in and generally 
practiced by the doctors of the self- 

44 



^HE VACCINATION SUPERSTITION 

*yled "regular" profession in multiply- 
^^S smallpox cases by spreading the 
contagion ; 

That there is no evidence worthy of 

^^^ name on record to prove that vaccina- 

^oix either prevents or mitigates smallpox ; 

That many thousands of healthy chil- 

^■*^^'»^ have died from the effects of vac- 



on; 
That millions of vaccinated people 
died of confluent smallpox while 
^"V^ng the plainest vaccine scars on their 
^^^ies; 

That smallpox epidemics invariably 
^"t^ck the vaccinated first; 

That smallpox is a filth-disease 
^^^ich ever follows closely upon flagrant 
^^^^lations of the laws of hygiene and 
^^xiitation ; 

That the occurrences of all the great 
epidemics of smallpox have coincided 
"With periods of sanitary neglect; 

That cowpox and venereal pox have 
much in common; 

45 



THE VACCINATION SUPERSTITION 

That the analogy between the mani- 
festations of vaccine and those o£ 
syphilis is so close that several oC 
the most eminent pathologists of th^ 
world regard cowpox as a modified fonn. 
of syphilis; 

That the condition set up by vac- 
cinia is often chronic and as protean 
in its manifestations as is syphilis; 

That the identity of cowpox and 
syphilis was first clearly pointed out by 
Dr. Hubert Boens-Boissan in 1882; 

That so-called "spontaneous cowpox" 
is a mjrth; 

That cowpox is a disorder not natur- 
al to the cow; that it never occurs 
in bulls or steers, nor in young heifers 
that have never been milked; that it is 
a disease of milch cows which has been 
communicated to them from sores on 
hands of milkers who were suffering 
from the "bad disease;" 

That when these facts are fully 
realized by the medical profession and 

46 



VACCINATION SUPERSTITION 

^^^ X^ublic it will not take long to put 
^^ ^nd to the crime of compulsory vac- 
cina.-tion ; 

That the community that has sani- 

^^^ surroundings, a pure water supply, 

^^^lesome food, good health and free- 

^^^^O. from the blood-poisoning incident 

"v-accination, need have no more fear 

Smallpox than of measles; 

That Leicester stands out clear and 

_^^tinct above all the other cities in 




^land, both as a rebuke to the vac- 
t practice, and as a testimony that 
A/ation from the infection of zymotic 
^ases lies in the direction of sanitary 
%nil^tions and hygienic habits of life; 
That the legitimate function of the 
e physician is not to propagate dis- 
^, but to restore health and prevent 
disease ; 

That the attainment of health is 
^lie gfreat desideratum; 

That a state of health is the ideal 
^tate to be sought after and attained; 

47 



THE VACCINATION SUPERSTITION 

That no man can be truly said to 
be susceptible to the contagion of 
smallpox or to that of any other dis- 
ease so long as he is in a state of 
perfect health; 

That such a state resists and repels 
the assaults of all morbific influences 
and is therefore the best protective 
against disease; 

That it is never necessary to actu- 
ally set up one disease in a healthy 
organism to protect against another; 
that such a procedure is an appalling 
violation of the basic principles of 
hygiene and sanitary science; 

That immunity . from the contagion 
of all diseases is to be realized through 
the attainment of health, not by the 
propagation of disease; 

That the performance of the vaccine 
operation, in the very nature of the 
case, violates the cardinal precepts of 
modern aseptic surgery, the aim of 
which is to exclude from the economy 

48 



THE VACCINATION SUPERSTITION 

pathogenic bacteria and to remove the 
products of disease from the organism, 
and never to introdtice them; 

That vaccination has utterly failed 
to fulfill the flattering promises made 
for it by Jenner and his followers; 

That a portly volume could be filled 
with the records of these failures; 

That compulsory vaccination has 
been abolished in Switzerland and Eng- 
land, while laws sanctioning this crime 
still disgrace the statute books of "free" 
America ; 

That compulsory vaccination ranks 
with human slavery and religious perse- 
cution as one of the most flagrant out- 
rages upon the rights of the human race ; 

That the vaccine operation, which 
consists in abrading the epidermis and 
implanting an indeterminate lot of 
microbes into the organism of a healthy 
person, is opposed to the laws of hygiene 
and to all the teachings of modern 
surgical practice; 

49 



THE VACCINATION SUPERSTITION 

That immunity from the contagion 
of smallpox is to be realized through 
the attainment of health, not by the 
propagation of disease ; 

That attention to hygiene and san- 
itation, supplemented by segregation of 
the sick, have robbed smallpox of all 
its terrors; 

That enlightenment on these subjects 
is sure to bring the conviction that the 
propagation of disease under the pretext 
of preventing disease has been a malefaction^ 
instead of a benefaction to the human 
race. 

COMPARISON BETWEEN SMALL- 
POX, COWPOX AND SYPHILIS. 

For a continuation of the comparison of cowpoz and 

syphilis see page 55. 

SMALLPOX. 

1. Eruption general, superficial. 

2. Constitutional or general symp- 
toms precede the eruption and are re- 
lieved on its appearance. 

50 



THE VACCINATION SUPERSTITION 

3. Eruption first felt as a No. 8 
bird shot beneath the skin, it then ap- 
pears as a papule ; then a vesicle, 
becoming pustular about the sth or 6th 
day, is from one to three lines in 
length; but the pustules are of various 
kinds, irregular, elevated, generally 
perforated by a hair, induration, if any, 
very slight, no tendency to a gnawing 
ulceration of the skin. 

4. The fluid is contained in two 
chambers — a superficial and a deep, 
which communicate around the edges 
of the separating membrane. The in- 
fective material (if any) is carried in 
the air. 

5. The smallpox pustules leave no 
scar if properly treated. 

6. The smallpox eruption does not 
affect the lymphatic system. 

7. Infectious. 

8. Inoculable. 

9. The smallpox is epidemic taking 
its rise in filthy localities. 

51 



THE VACCINATION SUPERSTITION 
(vaccination) cowpox. 

Primary Lesion. 

1. Eruption local, deep, in the cer- 
ium of skin or subcutaneous tissue, or 
in the mucous membrane. 

2. Constitutional S3ntnptoms do not 
precede but follow the eruption in all 
cases. 

3. Pustule* always the same, first a 
papule, then a vesicle, becoming pustular 
about the 8th day, 7 to 10 lines in 
diameter, round, centrally depressed, 
margin indurated and not perforated by 
a hair, has a cellular membrane at floor, 
tendency to a gnawing ulceration. 

4. The fluid is contained in a single 
chamber, reticulated, is non-volatile, and 
the infection is communicated only by 
immediate contact with an abraded sur- 
face. 

5. The cowpox leaves a foveated scar. 

6. The cowpox poison permeates the 
lymphatic channels and ganglia, causing 
inflammation, buboes, and abscesses. 

5^ 



THE VACCINATION SUPERSTITION 

7. Not infectious. 

8. Inoculable. 

9. Cowpox is independent of time 
and place; communicated only by direct 
inoculation. 

GREATPOX OR SYPHILIS. 

1. Eruption local, deep, in the corium 
of skin or subcutaneous tissue, or in 
the mucous membrane. 

2. Constitutional symptoms do not 
precede but follow the eruption in all 
cases. 

3. Pustule* always the same, first a 
papule rapidly becoming pustular with- 
out perceptibly passing through a vesi- 
cular stage, 7 to 10 lines in diameter, 
scooped out, deep funnel-shaped with 
sloping edges often elevated, not perfo- 
rated by a hair, has a fungoid membrane 
at floor, tendency to a gnawing ulcer- 
ation. 



• I. e.^ The Chancre 

Smallpox cured— no further symptoms manifested. 

53 



THE VACCINATION SUPERSTITION 

4. Absolutely the same as the cow- 
pox. 

5. Similar to the scar of cowpox, 
but varies in character. 

6. Absolutely the same as the cow- 
pox. 

7. Not infectious. 

8. Inoculable. 

9. Absolutely the same as cowpox. 

The smallpox patient, upon recovery, 
is free from the disease even if he is 
marked by scars. Smallpox will not 
beget either cowpox or syphilis. On 
the contrary, there are various subse- 
quent manifestations in vaccination, or 
cowpox, which are remarkably like those 
that appear in what are known as secon- 
dary and tertiary periods of syphilis. 
We have tabulated in parallel columns 
some of the many manifestations that 
appear in both these diseases, and a 
glance will reveal their striking simi- 
larity. 

54 



THE VACCINATION SUPERSTITION 

« 

COWPOX. SYPHILIS 



Phagedenic sores. 

Nodes in the head. 

Ophthalmia. 

Dentition delayed 
in children, with 
production of the 
so-called syphilitic 
teeth. 

Eczema of all 
kinds. 

Herpes. 

Ready fracture 
and difficult healing 
of bone, also proba- 
bly caries in some 
cases. 

Insanity, probably. 

Scrofula. 

Mucous patches on 
tonsils, tongue and 
lips tending to 
ulceration. 

Bronchitis. 

Tuberculosis,prob- 
ably. 

Arrest of develop- 
ment. 



Phagedenic sores. 

Nodes in the head. 

Ophthalmia. 

Dentition delayed 
in children, with 
production of the 
so-called syphilitic 
teeth. 

Eczema. 

Herpes. 
Caries of bone. 



Insanity. 

Scrofula. 

Mucous patches on 
tonsils, tongue and 
lip tending to 
ulceration. 

Bronchitis. 

Tuberculosis. 

Arrest of develop- 
ment. 



55 



DR. RODERMUND^S 
EXPERIMENT 



On Monday, Jan. 21, 1901, about 
11.30 A. M., I entered the residence of 

Mr. , where Miss Stark was confined 

with the smallpox. 

As I entered the house Mr. 

jumped from his chair and said: "We 
are not allowed to let anyone enter this 
house." 

"Never mind/' I said, "I am not 
anybody, so perhaps you have made no 
mistake." 

I then stated that I came to see the 
smallpox patient. 

"There she is," he said, pointing 
towards a young woman, in a far corner 
of the room. Mrs. sat by the win- 
dow sewing, while a child about two 
years old ran about the room. 



TUB VACCINATION SUPERSTITION 

"Are you not afraid of taking small- 
pox from the girl?" I asked. 

"No," replied the mother, "we are 
not afraid." 

"But the doctors say this disease is 
very contagpious; are they not very -eare* 
less and negligent in not keeping this 
patient away from the rest of the family? 
This is a genuine case of smallpox, just 
see the large pustules full of pus. Of 
course I know you can't take the disease 
from another." 

Then to show them that this was 
true, I broke open several of the large 
pustules on her face and arms and took 
the pus out of them and smeared it all 
over my face, hands, beard and clothes, 
and at the same time remarked that I 
would now go home to dinner. 

I mentioned nothing of the affair to 
my family during the meal and went 
directly to my office without telling any- 
one. The first person who came in the 
office was an old friend, Rev. T., who 

57 



THE VACCINATION SUPERSTITION 

has a parish at North Milwaukee. We 
shook hands heartily ; in fact, I had en- 
tirely forgotten that I was covered with 
smallpox poison. I presented him with 
one of my books and, according to our 
scientific and wilful deceivers of the 
public, I must have covered the book 
and gentleman with smallpox germs, and 
he in return must have exposed many 
people in Appleton, those he met on the 
train, and finally his whole congregation. 
The germs on the book, I suppose, are 
still enjoying themselves in the spiritual 
home of the reverend gentleman. 

During the same afternoon I touched 
the faces of several persons in my ofl&ce 
while treating their eyes and fitting 
glasses. From 4 to 6 and from 8 to 10 
o'clock the same afternoon I was at the 
Business Men's Club, where I mingled 
and played cards with the members. 

In the evening the conversation 
drifted to the smallpox case I had visited 
in the morning. After discussing the 

S8 



THE VACCINATION SUPERSTITION 

subject for a while, one of them asked 
me if I would visit a smallpox patient 
and then go home to my family. I 
quietly remarked that I would just as 
soon do it as visit a patient with a 
common cold. 

Finally, Mr. Dickinson, cashier in one 
of our banks, remarked rather sarcasti- 
cally: "Now, doctor, what's the use of 
talking such nonsense, you would no 
more think of visiting a smallpox patient 
and then go home and sleep with your 
family than you would go home and 
shoot one of your children. You are too 
sensible for that." 

The reader can imagine the state of 
my mind at that time, as none of them 
had an inkling that I was at that very 
time covered with smallpox pus, and that 
the cards we were playing with were 
being loaded with this poison. Still, I 
never once mentioned my visit to them. 
Further, I would never have gone to the 
club-rooms if I had had the least idea 

59 



THE VACCINATION SUPERSTITION 

that my actions would ever be known, as 
I knew the sentiment of these gentlemen 
and I also had too much respect for 
them and myself, to impose upon their 
feelings, even if I did know that their 
belief was a foolish superstition. I have 
done similar acts dozens of times during 
the past fifteen years and have in each 
instance watched the results and not the 
slightest harm has ever been done to 
anyone. 

To return to our subject, after leav- 
ing the club-rooms that evening I went 
home, slept with my family, and the 
next morning took the train to Green 
Bay, without washing my hands or face, 
and wearing the same clothes. I took 
breakfast at Green Bay and then went 

to the store of Mr. M , who had 

engaged me to fit glasses for his cus- 
tomers on that day. I handled the faces 
of twenty-seven persons during the day, 
besides those I exposed on the streets 
and in the train when on my way home. 

60 



THE VACCINATION SUPERSTITION 

The next morning (Wednesday) I 
washed my hands and face, the first 
time since they had been smeared with 
pus 46J hours before. When I arrived 
at my ofl&ce I found several reporters 
waiting to ascertain if the report were 
true that I had visited the smallpox 
patient and had smeared myself with 
pus. In the beginning I neither af- 
firmed nor denied the accusation, be- 
cause I did not want it known, but 
upon inquiry I learned that one of the 
neighbors had seen me come out of the 
house and asked the health officer if 
the family had changed doctors, as she 
had seen Dr. Rodermund come out of 
the house on Monday. 

Consequently there was nothing for 
me to do save tell the exact truth, 
which I did. The newspapers, however, 
mixed untruth with the truth in such a 
way as to mislead the public. Among 
other things they stated that I had per- 
sonally bragged of what I had done, 

61 



THE VACCINATION SUPERSTITION 

when they knew that I never intended 
it to become known to the world until 
the people were ready to consider such 
revolutionary truths for their own benefit. 

I was allowed my freedom about 
the city all day Wednesday, but on 
Thursday, the fourth day, I was quaran- 
tined and a guard of policemen stationed 
around the house. The people had 
been so aroused by the health ofl&cer, 
doctors, city officials, and the newspapers, 
that one of the policemen told me that 
it was a good thing I was protected by 
a strong guard, otherwise my life was 
in danger. 

Saturday I broke quarantine in spite 
of five policemen, drove forty miles to 
Waupaca, took the train for Chicago, 
from there went to Terre Haute, Ind., 
and on my way back home was arrested 
in Milwaukee and held for four days in 
the pest house. This is a brief outline 
of the whole episode which created 
such a sensation. 

6z 



THE VACCINATION SUPERSTITION 

The sanctimonious frauds and de- 
ceivers of the public (doctors) tried in 
every way, shape and manner, to trace 
a case of smallpox to my actions, but 
W^ith no avail. Even after I had ex- 
posed 50,000 people, and rubbed my 
pus-covered hands over thirty-seven 
faces, they could find nothing against 
me. In the near future I will publish 
a few similar incidents which have hap- 
pened to me the past years, and which 
are far more interesting than this one. 

Why is not one out of the thous- 
ands of these medical scoundrels, mur- 
derers, and deceivers, ever turned up to 
win the prize which reads as follows: 
One thousand dollars will be given to 
anyone who can prove that disease is con- 
tagious; also ten dollars for each day it 
takes him to prove it. 

The doctors know that by superstition 
the people can best be held. Then, I want 
to ask you, are not the people more to blame 
than the doctors ? 

63 



THE VACCINATION SUPERSTITION 

More than half the public do not believe 
in contagion, but they lack the courage 
to say so. Discussion and argument will 
never change the present conditions. 
They never settle a question where a 
powerful body of men have law and 
money o^ their side. A powerful public 
sentiment, combined with true knowl- 
edge, is the only remedy. As long as 
you drowse in your old superstitions, 
these murderers will continue to ruin 
your constitutions for the money there is 
in it. 

Does any sane man believe that God 
created such laws which, if disobeyed at 
any time by one person, would spread a 
loathsome disease over a whole nation? 
This superstition is a blasphemy upon 
Almighty justice. — Dr. Rodermund in The 
Searchlight* 



64 



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